Subtitled, "Beginner's Archiving for Musicians", this wonderful little ‘zine-like pamphlet presents some easy to understand concepts to help musicians (as well as engineers and producers) "organize, describe, and back up" their music. Author Jessica Thompson (see her re-mastering article this issue) specializes in mastering, restoration, and archiving, as well as contributing to occasional Tape Op reviews, so she knows this world well. Her friend, Kelley Vaughn-Kauffman, contributes excellent and charming illustrations and design to this 12-page booklet. Subjects include: setting up spreadsheets, backing up data, folder hierarchy and naming, and also tips on maintaining an archive. As the audio archivist for Elliott Smith's indie label work, I know that helping spread this kind of useful information, especially as technology continues to rapidly change, is more important now than ever. Every studio should have a stack of this insightful work available for clients at every session!
Books | No. 125
The Blackbird Academy Foundations
by Larry Crane
My colleague, Kevin Becka, is one of the founding studio recording teachers at The Blackbird Academy in Nashville, along with Tape Op contributor Mark Rubel. Kevin, being a teacher, saw a need for a...